First International Digital Announces New Portable Digital Audio Players

Motorola spin-off First International Digital Inc. recently announced that it will introduce two new lines of portable digital audio players. All of the units are unusually full-featured, and some of the players will Include a karaoke feature that is unique among portable digital players. The MP3 players all bear the irock! brand name.

Here's a feature breakdown for the higher end 600-series:

irock! 680 (64MB of memory) -- $299.99 list
irock! 650 (32MB of memory) -- price TBA

FM tuner with five programmable presets
karaoke feature
voice recorder
uses MMC (Multimedia Card) flash memory cards
USB connectivity
earbud headphones
dual headphone jacks
desk stand
belt-clip
upgradeable firmware
PC compatible only
requires two AAAs

The irock! 600-series units offer more functionality than most portable digital audio players. They not only boast a karaoke feature, but also sport a digital FM tuner and voice recording via a built-in microphone. Unlike most portables, these units include an extra headphone jack, which may help keep a bored travelling companion happy or sharing your karaoke tunes through external speakers.

When the players come to market, special karaoke songs will be available for download from the company's not-yet-launched website (http://www.myirock.com). Some songs will allow you to along with the original artist's voice, whereas others will be provided completely free of vocals.

"The irock! players scroll the lyrics by on the LCD while you sing," said First International Digital Inc. spokesperson Aimee Volanski.

In another unusual move, the company will provide an online MP3 storage locker to all who purchase these units. Each person who buys the 680 will be allotted 125MB of storage space; those who buy the 32MB 650 will be given 100MB of storage space.

Users could record their voices over karaoke songs, upload the tracks to a storage locker, and then share the musical magic with friends via the Internet.

CES

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